Of gyms and drive-thrus
****************************************************
KEEP YOUR BODY YOUNG, ALIVE & FULLY FUNCTIONING
New research reveals revolutionary sound technology - the same technology that enhances memory - can dramatically increase longevity, slow aging and lower stress. This sound technology can actually put you - very safely, quickly and easily - into states of…
* Deep stress release and relaxation
* Superlearning
* Dramatically enhanced creativity
* Laser-beam focus and concentration
* Enhanced memory
* Increased feelings of well-being
Learn more about how you can improve your health and keep your body young and alive, visit:
Keep your body young, alive and fully functioning!
****************************************************
Strange bedfellows, part one
Those nutty marketers.
As part of mega-brands' internal marketing departments, their only job is to find out what people in their target demographic want and then develop promotions that convert those desires into dollars. Theoretically, all they need to do is spend a few bucks (or a few million) on focus research to find out what folks really want - then find a way to insert their products into that core desire by coming up with ways to offer these things to customers in exchange for a sale. Simple, right?
But what about when the things people want are completely contradictory to each other? What do the marketing gurus do then, besides pull their hair out in little tufts? Obviously, they just shrug their shoulders and offer customers promotions like this:
Chow down on fast food - get a FREE GYM MEMBERSHIP!
Yes, you read that right. According to a recent Associated Press article, the second-largest fast-food chain in the nation, Yum Brands, Inc., is partnering with gym giant Bally Total Fitness to offer a free 4-week membership to anyone who brings in a receipt in any dollar amount from one of the nation's more than 18,000 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silver's, or A&W restaurants. Initiated by Bally's, in the wake of New Years and it's most common resolution (losing weight, of course) this promotion makes me wonder what the fast-food marketers know that the gym marketers don't…
By all outward appearances, this move would seem to look very poorly on these restaurants - since the first thing the gym personnel are going to do once a mark's in the door, receipt in hand, is tell him or her to cut out the fast food. After all, they want folks to lose weight and see results from their free trial membership so they'll sign a long-term contract. Naturally, they're going to try to spin a person's propensity for fast food into one of the reasons why they need to join a gym.
But my question is this: Why doesn't the #2 fast food chain in the U.S. care about the millions in sales they're going to lose if this promotion takes off? There can be only one answer: Their focus research must indicate that whether they're going to the gym or not, people will still hit the drive-thru - perhaps even using the fact that they've joined a gym as justification for splurging on pizza, burritos, or French fries.
In other words, somehow the fast-food folks know that their money's in the bank no matter what. They might as well have whatever millions of dollars Bally's is willing to pay them to promote their gyms - plus the money from the sale it took to generate the proof-of-purchase needed to collect the free memberships in the first place. They've got us either way, and they know it.
As ironic as this all is, what's really funny (tragic, actually) is that both gyms and fast food restaurants will likely put you in the same place: The coronary ward or the morgue.
So I guess in this respect, such an unlikely partnership makes perfect sense.
****************************************************
BREATHE DISEASE OUT OF YOUR BODY
Learn how to breathe disease out of your body using techniques found in Healing with Ki-Kou. This book details a system of breathing techniques combined with simple body postures, handed down for centuries by traditional Chinese doctors. These powerful techniques use the principle of chi, considered by Eastern disciplines to be the energy source that carries life through your body. Put a stop to colds, viruses, ulcers, heart disease, arthritis, headaches, and discomfort from menopause with this easy to follow step by step breathing guide, visit:
Secret Breathing Techniques Reveals Most Powerful Form of Healing Ever Seen!
****************************************************
Immigrants beware the Land of Plenty
Those who emigrate to the U.S. have more than just virtually free healthcare, endless welfare support, and boundless rights to look forward to…
They can also expect to get fat.
According to a December Associated Press article, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that foreign-born habitants of the United States were nearly two and a half times more likely to be clinically obese after 15 years in this country as they were the year they crossed the border. The study's authors attribute the trend to America's hyper-caloric foods, larger portions, and greater reliance on labor-saving devices and vehicular transportation.
Great, another study telling us that we're the fattest culture on Earth. Hello! We know!
But here's an angle to all this that'll give you a moment's pause: Imagine how fat we'd be, statistically speaking, if there weren't a huge and ever growing influx of relatively thin people crossing our borders every day. Of course, a lot of these folks will inevitably spend the next decade or more getting fat on inexpensive, drive-thru cuisine.
Maybe this influx of poor, hungry people is what the fast-food folks are counting on to offset any image damage the Bally's gym co-promotion might do to their bottom lines.
Predicting, not contradicting,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
